Breville's 'A Bit More' 2-Slice Toaster is thoughtfully designed, and the 'Lift and Look' function that lets you check progress mid-cycle is its most useful touch. TechGearLab rated it highly for ease of use and consistent performance, while noting one corner of each slice browns unevenly. Results are reliable on medium and dark settings, though bread toasting overall rates as merely moderate. It fits people who want convenience and predictable outcomes; those chasing the best value or peak performance should look at other models.
Full review
Lift and Look, without cancelling the cycle
The feature that justifies this toaster's existence is Lift and Look: raising the carriage lifts the bread for inspection and drops it back without resetting the timer. Every other toaster forces a choice between guessing and cancelling. TechGearLab singled it out as the most genuinely useful thing Breville has added, and it is the reason owners tend to keep these rather than replace them. Alongside it sits the A Bit More button, which adds a short extra burst of heat rather than making you rerun a full cycle on a lower setting — the correct fix for toast that came out one shade pale.
One corner runs lighter on every setting
The consistent criticism is uneven browning. TechGearLab found one corner of each slice coming out noticeably lighter than the rest, and it recurred across browning levels and across bread types rather than appearing once. That pattern points at element layout rather than a faulty unit, so exchanging the toaster is unlikely to fix it. The difference is a shade rather than a raw corner, so it will not ruin breakfast, but on a toaster at this price it is the flaw that keeps the scores off top marks, and TechGearLab's 4.3 out of 5 reflects it.
Bagel and frozen settings do the real work
The specialised cycles are where this toaster is strongest. The bagel setting cuts power to the outer elements so the cut face crisps while the crust only warms through, and it copes with thick, dense bagels far better than a plain reheat. The frozen setting extends the cycle to account for a cold, damp starting point, which is what stops waffles and frozen bread emerging warm and limp. Plain sliced bread is the weakest of the three cases — perfectly competent on medium and dark, but not the standout performance the price implies.
Five browning levels, and the low end is soft
Browning runs from one to five, and the useful range is narrower than that suggests. The lowest settings barely change the colour of the bread, so most people end up living in the middle of the dial and reaching for A Bit More at the end of the cycle. Medium produces an even golden slice with a proper crunch; dark works but throws the corner unevenness into sharper relief. Expect a few cycles of experimentation with your usual loaf before the right number is obvious, and expect to move the dial again when you switch bread.
Brushed steel, hidden cord, slide-out crumb tray
Construction is brushed stainless steel over a 7.3 by 11.3 by 8.2 inch footprint, compact for a two-slice toaster with extra-wide slots. The cord stows underneath, the crumb tray slides out from the front, and the control panel is plain enough that nobody needs the manual. Longevity is the open question: Breville does not spell out warranty terms on the product page, and a toaster's real test is a few years of daily use rather than a review week, so the premium here buys a good first impression rather than a documented lifespan.
$109.95 against cheaper two-slice toasters
At $109.95 this sits at the top of the two-slice market, and a toaster at half the price will brown bread to the same shade if you are patient with it. What the money buys is control — Lift and Look, the A Bit More top-up, a bagel cycle that behaves properly, and a build that feels like kitchen equipment rather than a boxed commodity. If those things get used every morning, the premium is defensible. If toast is just toast in your house, it is not, and the uneven corner makes that argument harder than it should be at this end of the market.
Strengths
- +Features 'Lift and Look' function allowing mid-cycle toast checking without interrupting heating
- +Delivers consistent results with good control over toasting preferences
- +Excellent performance on medium and dark settings with appealing golden coloration
- +Sleek overall appearance with a fun, user-friendly interface
Watch-outs
- −Uneven browning observed in one corner of each slice across all settings
- −Moderate bread toasting performance compared to competitors
- −Not the cheapest option in the 2-slice toaster category
How it compares
Unlike the Breville Die Cast Smart Toaster, which has reported uneven toasting issues, the 'A Bit More' model offers consistent performance on medium and dark settings with its signature Lift and Look feature. While both are premium options, the 'A Bit More' provides better coloration and control, though it falls short in overall bread toasting performance compared to the Amazon Basics model.
Rating sources
Our 4.3 score is the average of these published ratings. More about methodology.
